The artificial heart can fully replicate normal heart functions for up to five years.

Doctors in France's Georges Pompidou European Hospital have just performed the first ever transplant of French pharmaceutical company Carmat's artificial heart to a human patient. Carmat says the operation was a complete success - the patient is currently awake in the intensive care unit and is speaking with family members.

The artificial heart, which looks like something right out of Deus Ex, includes sections of cow tissue, but is mostly robotic. It is three times heavier than a normal human's heart, can beat for up to five years and is designed for patients suffering from end-stage heart failure. But before you go rushing out to augment yourself, you may want to consider the price tag: $195,000. Ouch.

Carmat says it already has some more patients lined up for early human trials. The procedures will be deemed successful if the patients survives with the implant for over a month. Carmat says the heart could help up to 100,000 patients across the US and Europe.

"This news brings great pride to France," said France's Health Minister Marisol Touraine. "It shows we are pioneers in healthcare, that we can invent, that we can carry an innovation that will also bring great hope to plenty of people."

"We are delighted with this first implant, although it is premature to draw conclusions given that a single implant has been performed and that we are in the early postoperative phase," said Carmat's CEO Marcelo Conviti in a statement.

WWmelb:Now to really get 3D printing up and going so these things are cheap and available to the masses.

Not possible with current design it still needs some organic tissue to function.

Also 5 years is a bit short for shelf life of a heart, even more so at 200k a pop.

I am very interested though that this could be the first true test of the human body rejecting or accepting true artificial replacement. And whether we will have/need to create a real world equivalent of neuropozyne or not.

WWmelb:Now to really get 3D printing up and going so these things are cheap and available to the masses.

Not possible with current design it still needs some organic tissue to function.

Also 5 years is a bit short for shelf life of a heart, even more so at 200k a pop.

I am very interested though that this could be the first true test of the human body rejecting or accepting true artificial replacement. And whether we will have/need to create a real world equivalent of neuropozyne or not.

Well, to be fair, this is the first one EVER. If/when mass production occurs, it'll likely become much cheaper to produce, and with some more experience constructing them, they'll likely be able to increase the "shelf life", as it were.

Frankly, I'd say that these results are spectacular, given the circumstances.

I'd be more interested in later models. 3x the weight means that even if the patient fully recovers, they have to be very careful about movement. Gravitational stresses from a light jog could potentially kill him.

"This news brings great pride to France," said France's Health Minister Marisol Touraine. "It shows we are pioneers in healthcare, that we can invent, that we can carry an innovation that will also bring great hope to plenty of people."

Wait, why is he saying that like he's surprised? I mean, I know countries such as the US and Germany have stellar reputations when it comes to science, especially engineering, while other countries ... don't, but I never got the impression France was included in the latter. In fact, I was under the impression that France was one of those countries that spearheaded basic and fundamental research by funding projects such as the CERN and ITER facilities. Strange

Of course, putting this together with regular 3D printing is another matter entirely, but if they can figure out how to hack an inkjet to spew out body parts they can figure out how to give those parts horrifying robot bodies.

Nice, but 5 years seems a short amount of time for a viable heart transplant alternative. I mean invasive surgery like that would require maintenance every few years which isn't conductive to recovery I would think.

DoctorM:Wikipedia: "the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7, designed by Robert Jarvik and implemented in 1982."

So, um, is this the first FRENCH artificial heart or did this article take 31 years to get posted?

Serious, just a little research guys.

Yeah, I remember reading about artificial hearts in a sixth grade science book 15 years ago and was wondering if I just didn't remember they were experimental. I guess Google is getting so evil no one wants to look up anything on it and also forgot there's still alternative search engines.

how terrible. The patient was cut open and given a heart he can only hope to live 5 more years by. What then, are they gonna rip him open again? Even if I were elderly I still would not want an organ with an expiration date. They said themselves that 1 month = success, talk about lowering the bar! I would not believe they had my best interest sincerely.

DoctorM:Wikipedia: "the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7, designed by Robert Jarvik and implemented in 1982."

So, um, is this the first FRENCH artificial heart or did this article take 31 years to get posted?

Serious, just a little research guys.

Well, that heart let the patient live for a few months while also causing a great deal of suffering and he was hooked up to a machine too heavy to move. On top of that it greatly increased the risk of causing a stroke. Even the improved version wouldn't extend someone's life more than 2 years. This one might be able to last 5 years. How is a possible improvement not news? Just because a discovery is based on existing material that doesn't mske it less impressive. Following that logic most scientific discoveries csn be dismissed. Science is based on improvements and increased knowledge. That's how science works. This article may be exaggerating the importance and ignoring that there have been artificial heart transplants in the past, vut this is still a step in the right direction. I don't think we should be cheering before it becomes a viable option to transplants, but I'm happy to see we're slowly improving.

amaranth_dru:Nice, but 5 years seems a short amount of time for a viable heart transplant alternative. I mean invasive surgery like that would require maintenance every few years which isn't conductive to recovery I would think.

I pretty much agree, but then again five extra if somewhat annoying years is far better than dead. Plus I'll also throw in the annoying old gaming chestnut of "It's still in beta".

WWmelb:Now to really get 3D printing up and going so these things are cheap and available to the masses.

Not possible with current design it still needs some organic tissue to function.

Also 5 years is a bit short for shelf life of a heart, even more so at 200k a pop.

I am very interested though that this could be the first true test of the human body rejecting or accepting true artificial replacement. And whether we will have/need to create a real world equivalent of neuropozyne or not.

I imagine the artificial heart could accommodate mechanical valves as well. The article didn't elaborate as to why the device incorporated organic tissue (I'd assume the patient might have had a contraindication for extended Warfarin therapy)

I don't see the point in having a device with so many moving parts like this anyway. Ever since doctors had successfully installed a turbine based device in a patient who lived a few months until electing to die.

strumbore:how terrible. The patient was cut open and given a heart he can only hope to live 5 more years by. What then, are they gonna rip him open again? Even if I were elderly I still would not want an organ with an expiration date. They said themselves that 1 month = success, talk about lowering the bar! I would not believe they had my best interest sincerely.

Have you ever had a vaccination? Taken antibiotics?

Medical science is 100% in your best interest sir.

Put yourself in this patients shoes. You are ineligible to receive a donor organ, you are terminal, and your entire life has an expiration date. Most rational human beings would line up (if able) to get a device that will extend their life for any meaningful amount of time. Also in this case, yes I assume by the time the device is going to wear out, they will "rip him open" (of course it's more like "scalpel and saw" him open) and replace the heart with a newer version.

DoctorM:Wikipedia: "the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7, designed by Robert Jarvik and implemented in 1982."

So, um, is this the first FRENCH artificial heart or did this article take 31 years to get posted?

Serious, just a little research guys.

Actually, it's an accurate statement, but it's got heavy media spin. It's like a headline a month ago (I live in Canada) that read as though Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was arrested on drug charges, but was actually a Florida mayor arrested and the arresting officer said something like 'this isn't Toronto.'

The line was: performed the first ever transplant of French pharmaceutical company Carmat's artificial heart to a human patient...

DoctorM:Wikipedia: "the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7, designed by Robert Jarvik and implemented in 1982."

So, um, is this the first FRENCH artificial heart or did this article take 31 years to get posted?

Serious, just a little research guys.

As they are saying "transplanted" I would speculate that they mean this one is the first internal one, usually artificial hearts are either large machines or the size of a travel case and the patient has to carry around a box with pumps in etc. Not sure though I guess its time actually do some research about it.

1066:Actually, it's an accurate statement, but it's got heavy media spin. It's like a headline a month ago (I live in Canada) that read as though Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was arrested on drug charges, but was actually a Florida mayor arrested and the arresting officer said something like 'this isn't Toronto.'

The line was: performed the first ever transplant of French pharmaceutical company Carmat's artificial heart to a human patient...

And so it is their first heart, so it's technically correct, etc.

Bugs me too, but it really is just spin.

DoctorM:Wikipedia: "the first artificial heart to be successfully implanted in a human was the Jarvik-7, designed by Robert Jarvik and implemented in 1982."

So, um, is this the first FRENCH artificial heart or did this article take 31 years to get posted?

I know this pretty well because I know a girl named after him... Jarvik.

From what I'm finding out on Wiki, it seems that this Jarvik heart required you to be connected to a dishwasher-sized machine and that these various artificial hearts were more like things to allow you to survive until an actual transplant rather than a heart you could live with at home, work, etc.

Hell, even one of the most modern stuff, that actually allowed the patient to leave the hospital with his artificial heart... needed him to carry a backpack-sized powerplant on him.